Chase Ultimate Rewards® is my favorite transferable points program. It’s where I started my miles and points journey and is the best place to start if you’re a newbie! These points are so valuable because they are relatively easy to earn and provide flexible redemption options.
There are so many ways to use Ultimate Rewards points and you can redeem rewards at any time. The most straightforward redemptions are cash back, buying gift cards, or paying with points during checkout at partners like Amazon or Apple. But the most value comes when you transfer points to Chase’s travel partners’ loyalty programs.
Further adding to the value of these points is that you can pool them between all of your Chase personal and/or business cards. In addition, you can transfer and combine points between household family members. Check out my “How To” guide, for more information on transferring points between accounts.
A few other great perks are that Ultimate Rewards points never expire and you can use a combination of points and cash on travel purchases if you’re short on points.
This post will take you through everything you need to know — from how to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards to how to spend those points.
Earning Chase Ultimate Rewards
One of the great things about Chase Ultimate Rewards is that earning points is easy!
Earning from Credit Cards
There are 8 Chase credit cards that allow you to earn points in the program. However, only three cards earn fully transferable points, while the other five are technically cash back cards. As long as you own at least one of the fully transferable cards, earnings from the cash-back cards can be combined with those cards and used just like regular points.
The following 3 credit cards are the ones that earn fully transferable points. You’ll need to own at least one of these cards in order to have full access to the Ultimate Rewards program.
| Chase Card | Welcome Offer | Bonus Categories and Benefits | Annual Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card | 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months | - 3x points on travel and dining purchases - $300 annual travel credit, a fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, Priority Pass Select lounge access | $550; $75 for each authorized user |
| Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card | 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months | - 2x points on travel and dining purchases - Primary car rental, trip cancellation/interruption and baggage delay insurance | $95, waived for the first year |
| Chase Ink Business Preferred® Card | 100,000 bonus points after spending $15,000 in the first 3 months | - 3x points on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable and phone services, advertising made with social media sites and search engines each year - Cell phone protection up to $1,000 per claim for damage or theft | $95 |
The following 5 credit cards are no annual fee, cash-back cards. You’ll need to combine points earned from these cards with one of the above cards before you can transfer them to travel partners.
| Chase Card | Welcome Offer | Bonus Categories and Benefits | Annual Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Freedom® | $200 bonus (20,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points) after spending $500 in the first 3 months | - 5% cash back on select bonus categories which rotate on a quarterly basis up to $1,500 per quarter | $0 |
| Chase Freedom Flex℠ | $200 bonus (20,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points) after spending $500 in the first 3 months plus 5% cash back on gas station purchases on up to $6,000 spent in the first year | - 5% cash back on travel purchased from the Chase Travel Portal - 5% cash back on select bonus categories which rotate on a quarterly basis up to $1,500 per quarter - 3% cash back on dining and drugstore purchases | $0 |
| Chase Freedom Unlimited® | $200 bonus (20,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points) after spending $500 in the first 3 months plus 5% cash back on gas station purchases on up to $6,000 spent in the first year | - 5% cash back on travel purchased from the Chase Travel Portal - 3% cash back on dining and drugstore purchases - 1.5% cash back on all other purchases | $0 |
| Chase Ink Business Cash® Card | $750 bonus (75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points) after spending $7,500 in the first 3 months | - 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases on office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services - 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants | $0 |
| Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Card | $750 bonus (75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points) after spending $7,500 in the first 3 months | - Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back rewards on every purchase | $0 |
Note that all of these cards are impacted by the Chase 5/24 rule.
What is the Chase 5/24 Rule?
Simply put, Chase will not approve you for a new credit card if you’ve opened five or more new cards, from any bank, in the last 24 months. They introduced this rule several years ago to prevent card churning and it’s known as the Chase 5/24 rule. In other words, they don’t want you to get a bunch of credit cards just for the sign-up bonuses.
Note: This is not a published policy, but enough data points have been collected that we know this is their policy.
All personal credit cards from any bank count towards your total, so you can’t get around the rule by applying for non-Chase cards. For in-depth information on this subject, check out Everything You Need to Know About the Chase 5/24 Rule.
Other Ways to Earn
Once you have a Chase Ultimate Rewards travel credit card, there are other ways to earn points beyond the welcome bonus and spending, including:
Earning from the Chase Shopping Portal
In addition to earning points from credit card sign-up bonuses and everyday spending, making purchases through the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal can also help build your points balance.
When shopping through portal, you earn bonus points at a wide array of merchants. It’s an easy way to earn some extra points on purchases you’d make anyways.
Pro Tip: If you use multiple shopping portals, always check Cashback Monitor first to see which portal will give you the most bonus points for the merchant you want to shop. The Chase shopping portal may not always give you the best return.
Earning from Referrals
Another quick way to boost your points balance is by referring friends and family to Chase credit cards. When someone you’ve referred gets approved for a card through the Chase Refer a Friend program, you’ll earn bonus points. The number of bonus points you’ll earn differs based on the card, and bonus points are capped at a maximum number per year.
Redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards
The three most common redemption options are:
- Cash Back, Shopping and Gift Cards
- Pay Yourself Back
- Chase Travel Portal
- Transferring to Travel Partners
The value of each redemption option varies. Redeeming for cash back and gift cards brings the lowest value and should really be avoided unless you have absolutely no plans to travel. The travel portal is next in potential value while transferring to travel partners brings the most bang for your buck.
Cash Back, Shopping and Gift Cards
Cash Back
Quite simply, you can use your points to apply statement credits at a flat rate of 1 cent per point. This option won’t get you the most value, but it’s appealing if you prefer the flexibility of cash.
Shopping with Points
You can link your Chase Ultimate Rewards account to your Amazon account and pay for purchases with points. However, when you do this, your points are only worth 0.8 cents apiece. That’s the lowest redemption value and not recommended if you’re trying to maximize the value of your points.
Gift Cards
You can also redeem points toward third-party gift cards. Most redemptions are valued at a rate of 1 cent per point, but there are often sales which yield slightly better values.
Pay Yourself Back℠
Select one or more of your recent eligible purchases to pay yourself back with your available Ultimate Rewards points. You can use some or all of your points to receive a statement credit.
Chase chooses certain categories that are eligible to qualify for the program at any given time. Categories, eligible merchants, and purchase transaction eligibility may change from time to time without notice.
After each purchase posts, you have 90 days to pay yourself back. Chase Sapphire Reserve customers can redeem points at 1.5 cents apiece. That means that 50,000 points equals $750 in redemption value, same as in the travel portal. All other Chase Ultimate Rewards earning card customers can redeem points at 1.25 cents per point.
Redeeming with the Travel Portal
If you don’t want to deal with learning airline or hotel award charts or risk being blacked out on your preferred travel dates, you can redeem Ultimate Rewards points through the Chase Travel Portal.
The portal works just like any other 3rd-party booking site, like Expedia or Orbitz.
Depending on which cards you own, the value you get for your points will differ. Here’s how the redemptions break down:
| Chase Card | Travel Portal Value | Access to Travel Partners |
|---|---|---|
| Chase Sapphire Reserve® | 1.5 cents per point | Yes |
| Chase Sapphire Preferred® | 1.25 cents per point | Yes |
| Ink Business Preferred® | 1.25 cents per point | Yes |
| Chase Freedom Flex℠ | 1 cent per point | No (must transfer points to a card that has access) |
| Chase Freedom® | 1 cent per point | No (must transfer points to a card that has access) |
| Chase Freedom Unlimited® | 1 cent per point | No (must transfer points to a card that has access) |
| Chase Ink Business Cash® | 1 cent per point | No (must transfer points to a card that has access) |
| Ink Business Unlimited® | 1 cent per point | No (must transfer points to a card that has access) |
As you can see, you get the most value from Chase’s most premium card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve. With the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred, you’ll get 1.25 cents per point.
Redeeming through the Chase travel portal is easy. You can book plane tickets, hotel stays, rental cars, cruises and travel experiences.
This option can be especially worthwhile if you’re booking a cheap flight or hotel room. In these cases, booking through the travel portal is likely to cost less in points than booking directly with the airline or hotel.
For the majority of flights booked through the portal, you will earn redeemable and elite-qualifying miles. However, the same is not true with hotels. Unfortunately you won’t earn hotel points or elite stay credits when booking hotel stays through the portal. This is the same concept as when you book through Hotels.com, Expedia, Orbitz, etc.
Transferring to Travel Partners
Cardholders of the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred have another option for redeeming their points — transfers to airline or hotel partners. As long as you hold one of those cards, you can combine points earned from one of the lower-tier cards to transfer those as well.
While this option may require a little more time and effort, it also often gets you the greatest value. For example, you can transfer points to book round-trip flights to international destinations that would cost thousands of dollars out of pocket.
All transfer ratios are 1:1, and you must transfer in 1,000-point increments. In the majority of cases, your points will transfer instantly from Ultimate Rewards to the airline or hotel program.
| Program | Transfer Time | |
|---|---|---|
| Aer Lingus |  | Instantaneous |
| Air Canada |  | Instantaneous |
| British Airways |  | Instantaneous |
| Emirates |  | Instantaneous |
| Flying Blue (Air France/KLM) |  | Instantaneous |
| Hyatt |  | Instantaneous |
| Iberia |  | Instantaneous |
| IHG |  | Next business day |
| JetBlue |  | Instantaneous |
| Marriott |  | Next business day |
| Singapore Airlines |  | Within 2 business days |
| Southwest |  | Instantaneous |
| United Airlines |  | Instantaneous |
| Virgin Atlantic |  | Instantaneous |
Note: Once you’ve moved your points to a partner, you can not get them back.
So how do you maximize value by transferring Ultimate Rewards points to travel partners?
There are 11 airline transfer partners, but because of airline alliances, you’ll be able to fly on dozens more. Miles from one airline can be used to book award flights on alliance partners. There are three main airline alliances.
- OneWorld Alliance – points transferred to Chase partners British Airways or Iberia can be used to book award flights on American Airlines
- Star Alliance – points transferred to Singapore or United Airlines can be used to book award flights on Lufthansa
- SkyTeam Alliance – points transferred to Flying Blue can be used to book award flights on Delta
Other popular U.S. carriers like Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, aren’t part of any alliance, but you can still book award flights with them by transferring to certain Chase travel partners. For example, you can use British Airways miles to book an award ticket on Alaska Airlines. Or you can fly on Hawaiian Airlines using miles from Virgin Atlantic.
So you can see that knowing Chase’s travel partners, and then understanding each of their alliance partners, can open up almost limitless options!
On the hotel side, you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt, IHG and Marriott. However, in general, you’ll get better value redeeming points with airline partners.
The one exception is Hyatt and that is simply because those points are worth more than IHG or Marriott points. Standard award rooms with Hyatt start at just 5,000 points per night and max out at 40,000 points. Compare that to Marriott’s 85,000 point max or IHG’s 70,000 point max. It’s easy to see that there is outstanding value in transferring points to Hyatt.
Examples
Below are a few examples of using the travel portal vs. transferring to travel partners. Note, that I own the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, so my Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.25 cents per point.
Pro Tip: Always do the math to see whether the travel portal or transferring to travel partners will cost less points.
Example 1: A November hotel stay in Tucson, Arizona at the Tucson Marriott University Park.
A night at the Tucson Marriott University Park costs about $161 per night. If I book through the travel portal, it would cost 12,880 points per night. However, if I transfer points directly to Marriott and book through them, it would cost 25,000 points per night. Clearly, the travel portal is the better option in this case. The value of this redemption is 1.25 cents per point.
Example 2: A November hotel stay in Cancun, Mexico at the Hyatt Zilara.
A paid night at the Hyatt Zilara in Cancun costs $427 per night. If I book through the travel portal, it would cost 34,200 points per night. However, if I transfer points directly to Hyatt, it would cost 25,000 points per night. In this case, transferring to a travel partner is the better deal. The value of this redemption is 1.7 cents per point ($427 / 25,000).
There are also plenty of options for those wanting to redeem points for something more luxurious. And if you fly during off-peak times, the value becomes even more amazing. For example:
- Iberia: Fly round-trip from North America to Madrid in business class for 68,000 miles
- Virgin Atlantic: Fly one-way from North America to Europe in the luxurious Delta One cabin for 50,000 miles
Bottom Line
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are the most valuable transferable points currency you can earn. This is why I always recommend beginners start their points and miles journey with a Chase credit card. Plus Chase Ultimate Rewards points continue to be extremely valuable to even the most experienced traveler. These points are so valuable because they are relatively easy to earn and provide flexible redemption options.
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